Virtual currency Bitcoin is under severe pressure Friday after major exchange Mt. Gox temporarily halted all withdrawals citing issue encountered by various other bitcoin withdrawals.

The price of bitcoin is currently down nearly 11% to $703 after trading down as much as 20% earlier.

Below is the Mt. Gox Statement:

Dear MtGox Customers,

In our efforts to resolve the issue being encountered by various bitcoin withdrawals, it was determined that the increase in the flow of withdrawal requests has hindered our efforts on a technical level. To understand the issue thoroughly, the system needs to be in a static state.

In order for our team to resolve the withdrawal issue it is necessary for a temporarily pause on all withdrawal requests to obtain a clear technical view of the current processes.

We apologize for the sudden short notice. All bitcoin withdrawal requests will be on pause, and the withdrawals in the system will be returned to your MtGox wallet and can be reinitiated once the issue is resolved. The trading platform will perform as usual for the needs of our customers.

Our team will resolve this problem as soon as possible and will provide an update on Monday, February 10, 2014 (JST).

We deeply apologize for the inconvenience caused, and thank you for your kind support and considerations.